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Monday, 4 June 2012

Art, art … everywhere for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

60 Photographs of 60 Years

young artist
creates portrait of Queen in banknotes

ten drawings by Leonardo da Vinci

treasures from The Queen's Palaces

… more

Celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, according to sources monitored through the Internet is a carnival of sort. Perhaps a confirmation that one of the world's oldest surviving monarchy is not ready to give up its grip on the U.K., even beyond as about ten art exhibitions are lined up for the celebration, among other carnival-like events.

At 60 on the throne, Elizabeth is the monarchy's second longest queen after Victoria who reigned for 63 years seven months.

The Queen was crowned on 2
June 1953 in Westminster Abbey. The Coronation service began at 11.15 am and
lasted almost three hours, concluding at 2.00 pm, after which The Queen,
wearing the Imperial State Crown and carrying the orb and sceptre, returned to
Buckingham Palace in the Gold State Coach.

One of the the exhibitions, a display of photographs presents a the Queen’s "reign as captured in fleeting moments on both
official occasions and at relaxed family gatherings.

7ft (2.1m) collage-picture, produced by artist Terry Woodvine, 37

"With the advent of
photography, the boundaries between the officially approved and the
spontaneously captured image of the monarch were irreversibly blurred.
Today, through the reach of modern media, the image of Her Majesty is familiar
to millions around the world. Most of the exhibition The Queen: 60 Photographs for 60 Years has
been selected from photographs submitted by the Royal Rota press organisations."

Also, a
portrait of the Queen, created from hundreds of banknotes, has gone on display
to mark the Diamond Jubilee.

The 7ft (2.1m) picture, produced by Norfolk artist Terry Woodvine,
uses a mix of real and counterfeit notes with a face value of about £10,000.

Mr Woodvine, 37, from
Brundall, said: "I'm extremely pleased with the result. It was a real
labour of love and an ongoing process of experimentation."

The painting is on show at Norwich's Open centre until the end of
June.

Queen Elizabeth II. State Visit to Mexico, 25
February 1975 by Reginald Davis and Donated by Rex Features

Mr Woodvine said: "[The portrait] is from a series I created
10 years ago when the country was much more prosperous in terms of money, so it
seemed the most natural material to use.

"I was trying to use the notes in their purest form. The flag
was perfect as I had all the colours already, but in certain places I had to
add shade and light to the face with paint."

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2 June 1953. Pic by Unknown photographer and

Donated by the Universal
Pictorial Press Agency

Mr Woodvine graduated in 1998 from the Norwich School of Art and
Design, now the Norwich University College of the Arts.

The portrait was originally created for the Golden Jubilee and has
come to Norwich after being displayed at the Royal Academy of the Arts, London.
It took Mr Woodvine four months to create.

He said: "I'd hope the Queen would approve - it's 10 years
old now, so clearly she looks slightly younger. The emphasis for me was to
paint her as accurately as possible."